Iranian Journal of Veterinary Medicine
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter 2008

The Purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Canine Coronavirus (CCV) in diarrheic dogs of Ahvaz district. Fecal samples were collected from 58 diarrheic dogs between 2005 and 2006. Dogs were grouped by age (less than and above 6 months), sex, breed, geographical location (urban and rural) and quality of diarrhea (hemorrhagic and non-hemorrhagic) to determine whether these factors were associated with coronavirus infection, using Fischer's exact test. Prevalence to CCV antigens in these dogs was 3.45% (2 of 58) by means of immunochromatography assay (IC) indicating that this virus is present in the environment. Though the infection had more prevalence in dogs less than 6 months, rural dogs and German shepherds, but there were no significant differences between different sexes, age groups, breeds, location and quality of diarrhea (p>0.05). CBC in 2 dogs that were affected with coronavirus infection was normal. This study that is the first report on prevalence of CCV in Iran showed that CCV infection in the Ahvaz dogs may be attributed as a cause of viral diarrhea in dogs. A vaccine is recommended, especially for open population and kennel dogs that are at a high risk for contacting the virus. Key words: Canine Coronavirus, Immunochromatography assay, dog, diarrhea.

In order to investigate the seroprevalence of Neospora caninum infection in cattle in Southwestern Iran, blood samples were collected from Holstein (121 animals) and cross-breed (436 animals) cattle from three farms and seven areas of Ahvaz, respectively. All of the Holstein cattle were “4 years old but cross-breed cattle were from different age groups (< 2, 2-4, 5-6 and > 6 years old). Sera were examined by commercial ELISA kit. Anti - N. caninum antibodies were detected in 117 (21%) sera out of 557 tested. A Significant difference was found between Holstein (53.71%) and cross-breed (11.93%) cattle although there were not any significant differences between age groups. Key words: Neospora caninum, Cattle, Ahvaz, Iran

Coccidiosis is one of the major parasitic diseases of poultry. In this study, to compare the effects of coccidiostatic drugs on fecal oocyst shedding and body weight gain of coccidi-infected broiler chickens, 180 one day old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to four treatments. Each treatment contained 3 replicates of 15 chickens. Treatments 1 and 2 were fed diets supplemented with 200ppm Diclazuril and 500ppm Salinomycin, respectively. Treatments 3 and 4 were designated as positive and negative control, received no coccidiostate. Chickens in treatment 1, 2 and 3 were inoculated with a suspension containing four Eimeria species. Frequency of excreted oocyst obtained from feces samples during 7-13 days post -challenged was carried out. Body weight, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and mortality rate were evaluated weekly. The results revealed that coccidiostatic drugs decreased oocyst per gram of feces significantly in 7-13 days post inoculation (p<0.05). The highest mean of body weight was related to negative control followed by chickens treated with Diclazuril. The lowest FCR was belonged to negative control followed by chickens treated with Diclazuril. It could be concluded that coccidiostate -supplemented diets in Eimeria infected groups shed less (P<0.05) oocyst than control-infected chickens and improved production performance in coccidian-infected broiler chicks. Key words: coccidiosis, coccidiostates, broilers, performance.

The presence of dogs has been identified as a risk factor for human Leptospirosis. The aim of this study was the survey of the current state of leptospiral infection in dogs in Ahvaz. Sera from 100 rural dogs of villages around Ahvaz and 49 urban dogs referred to veterinary hospital of shahid Chamran University were detected for antibodies against serovars canicola, icterohaemorrhagiae, grippotyphosa, ballum, hardjo and pomona by microscopic agglutination test. Out of the 149 dogs investigated, 8(5.4%) were serologically positive against at least one serovar of leptospira. Titers |“| 1:100 were detected in 7 rural (7%) and one urban (2.04%) dogs. The predominant titers were directed to serovars hardjo (44.5%) followed by ballum (22.2%), icterohaemorrhagiae (22.2%) and grippotyphosa (11.1%). Mixed infection was detected only in one dog. Serovars canicola and pomona were uncommon in dogs from Ahvaz. As expected, a very low prevalence of infection was found in urban pet dogs but in contrast low prevalence of infection in rural shepherd and/or stray dogs with poor level hygiene was unexpectable. However, the sources of infection in these dogs were not clear and this is the first report of infection with serovar hardjo from dogs in Iran. Key words: Dog, Leptospirosis, serovars, zoonosis, Iran.

The aim of the present study was to produce a polyclonal antibody against bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugated with artemisinin. To gain an immunogenic character of artemisinin, a carboxyl group was added to it using mixed anhydride method. Then, the reactive compound of artemisinin was conjugated with BSA. The BSA+artemisinin were injected to white female New Zealand rabbits for two times. In the first injection, the Fraud's complete adjuvant was used, and two weeks later, a booster injection was carried out with a Fraud's incomplete adjuvant. Two weeks later, blood samples were collected; their serum were separated and frozen until assessment. The production of antibody against BSA+artemisinin was assayed by Immunoblot technique. Antibody was separated and concentrated by saturated ammonium sulfate. The assay confirmed the successful production of an antibody against BSA+artemisinin as a fundamental step in investigation of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of artemisinin. Key words: Artemisia sieberi, artemisinin, polyclonal antibody, BSA-conjugation

A five-year-old, male Great Dane was referred to the Veterinary Hospital of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman for treatment of a painful swelling mass at the left upper part of the chest wall, between 9th till 12th intercostals space. Lethargy, depression, vomiting and abdominal pain in palpation of the mass were the main clinical observation with no response to antibiotic and anti-emetic treatment. Following radiographic and endoscopic examinations, a foreign body in stomach was diagnosed. In surgical exploration, skin incision was carried out on the swelling mass and a sinus tract with a wooden sharp foreign body (20 cm length) was identified. After removing the foreign body and debridment of necrotic tissue in sinus tract, soft tissue and skin were sutured. One month later, since partial wound dehiscence of surgical site and fluid discharge was seen, therefore ventral midline exploratory laparotomy done and confirmed a gastrocutaneous fistula. Dissection of the fistula and surgical closure of the stomach, body wall and skin led to complete recovery. Key words: Gastro-subcutaneous fistula, Foreign body, Dog.

iNOS is inducible by a variety of factors related to inflammation and referred to as inducible NOS(iNOS). It is regulated at the level of gene expression; once expressed, it produces NO at a high rate. iNOS gene-expression profiling is an important tool in understanding molecular markers of the responses of cells and tissues to external factors. In this article a semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocol was optimized to extract RNA (ribonucleic acid) from chicken spleen and to measure the expression levels of iNOS mRNAs from each sample. Detailed procedure was described for the analysis of iNOS levels. b-actin was used as an internal control to normalize for sample to sample variations in total RNA amounts and for reaction efficiency. Co-amplification of the iNOS gene with housekeeping gene (b-actin) provides a quantitative result. Changes in gene expression level may be monitored, while avoiding sample-to-sample loading variation. Key words: iNOS mRNA, RT-PCR, gene expression, b-actin.

The natural occurrence of fungal contamination was evaluated in stored soybeans in different agro-ecological zones. Of 30 samples examined, fungal contaminations were positive in 25.9 percent and 74.1 percent of Iranian and imported soybeans (p<0.05). The total fungal CFU/g counts were calculated 6.3 * 102 in Iranian and 18 * 102 in imported samples. The most frequent isolated fungi from soybeans originated from Iran and imported were Aspergillus spp. (59.7, 58.6 percent), Penicillium spp. (26.8, 27.3 percent), and Fusarium spp. (13.5, 14 percent), respectively. Soybeans with a high incidence of diverse species of fungi to need for proper surveillance and monitoring for the prevention of fungal and mycotoxin contaminations. Key words: soybean, mycoflora, Iran.

This study was conducted to characterize infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) isolates collected from different parts of Iran during 2005-2006. Pooled bursal samples from 49 broiler and layer pullet flocks suspected to IBD infection were collected and processed. A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) procedure was used to amplify a VP2 gene fragment (743 bp) from IBDV field isolates. Amplified VP2 fragments were further characterized by two restriction enzymes, BspMI and SacI. From 49 field samples, 37 (75.5%) samples were IBDV positive by RT PCR. Digestion with two restriction enzymes, BspMI and SacI, showed patterns compatible with very virulent IBDV and classical IBDV strains in 34 (91.9%) and 3 (8.1%) IBDV-positive samples, respectively. The restriction enzyme analysis of this study was comparable to that of other isolates and reference strains with available nucleotide sequence data in the GenBank. The procedure followed in this study is a useful method to rapidly differentiate the very virulent IBDV and classical IBDV isolates. Key words: infectious bursal disease, vvIBDV, RT-PCR, broiler, Iran.